easyriderknucklehead

I thought I resolved this problem but my 1965 327 engine dies after a drive about 20 minutes away . I thought it was the coil replaced it and it was fine for a bit but I never really drove it long enough I guess to only notice it happened again today. this crap never ends with this car just as I get it working enough to go for a drive something else happens . So I let it sit and it fires up again no problem and then stalls in 5 minutes or so , I park it go in for a beer and talk with another guy who leads me to think the culprit is the white little resistor on the firewall near the throttle going in that has the yellow ignition wire and white to coil I believe ( I do have a picture). I remember cleaning the connections on this (resistor thing ) but the screw that holds it tight to the firewall was not tight and its loose actually. So my fellow drunk says hey that should be grounded (the resistor thing) against the firewall and I thought it was fiberglass where it was ???? Could this dude be right or is this resistor thing what ever it is called my problem?? please help before I stall around a corner and stall in an intersection and destroy my pride and joy! I also am thinking someone said before the ignition switch which doesn t make sense but a member said there is some bi-metal connection etc... Also I have switched to pertronix 1 and new coil 2 . car ran fine for weeks after getting rid of points and now this has started and I am once again gonna miss a car show in Edmonton.:bea tdeadhorse:

Gary's '66

I feel your pain, these cars can drive (or not) a reasonably sane person to the proverbial nut house.

All I can offer at this stage is that it's either electrically or fuel related or, possibly even both.

You seem to be concentrating solely on the electrical aspect. Have you checked the fuel system?

What exactly does the car do when it dies? Is it sudden, like a switch that's been turned off or is it more slowly like it's running out of gas?

Gary

easyriderknucklehead

it is very sudden no warning one minute it is running fine no starving for fuel or anything I have a rebuilt carb, brand new fuel filters both and new fuel pump , I lean towards electrical because I hate it and today before it suddenly died I was about to make a left turn and noticed no left signal light on dash and I have fixed previously all the lights, so I was looking at it not blinking and making the turn and damn the car dies , I pull into shoulder and try key and nothing and sit there for about 2 minutes and it fires right up . this happens 3 or 4 times after that leaning towards this ignition switch because this fellow mentioned it but who knows I have replaced so much stuff and didn t need to before finding the real problem. kind of pissed off I threw away my old ignition coil wedneday (garbage day) thinking I resoved this issue. I am really leaning towards a Porsche recently but would kill the shop after receiving a real hefty bill for a simple tune up. These cars are supposed to be reliable. !@#$%?

KC John

Even though you said you changed the coil, it sure does act like mine did when my coil was bad. Are your connections at the firewall tight and clean? Sorry if this has already been mentioned.

gbvette62

I agree with KC John, it sure sounds typical of a bad coil. A bad coil can overheat, the car will shut down, and then when the coil cools down, it works again.

Your firewall is fiberglass, and your drunk friend was wrong, the ballast resistor does not ground through it. Have you tried replacing the ballast resistor? A bad or cracked resistor, might have the same effect as a bad coil?

I've never had any experience with the Pertronix ignition, but do you even still need to use the ballast resistor, after converting to the Pertronix system?

The ignition switch was my other thought too. Has the switch been replaced, and have you checked to see that the dash harness is securely plugged into the switch?

Frankie the Fink

Don't discount the fact he lost his turn signals when it happened.

Bulkhead connector...

DansYellow66

Yeah - drinking and turning wrenches doesn't always work well together.

The resistor usually is either working or broken - not much in-between.

65GGvert

If you're losing other power in the cabin (clock, courtesy lights, radio, fan, etc) when this happens, you need to pull the bulkhead connector that's closest to the centerline of the car and clean the connections on that large red wire. That feeds the power to the ignition, fuses, and everything else in the cabin.
If it were my car, and IF you have Pertronix (I don't recall), my next step would be to put a set of points in it, make sure the ballast is in the circuit, and drive for a while. There's not much way to troubleshoot an intermittent electronic ignition device besides replacing. The ballast is VERY unlikely to cause an intermittent loss of power. You can test by running a jumper around it and give it a try.
The fuel pump has a pivot pin that can walk out and cut off fuel intermittently. I know it doesn't sound possible, but it happens all the time. I have a friend I can put you in touch with with the exact symptoms you describe (except the turn signal) and the fuel pump pin was his problem. Your first step is to try to find out of it's fuel or electric issues. That involves driving it till it dies and troubleshooting. Before anything else, drive it till it dies and keep the radio or fan on and see if that dies when the car dies. If they stop, look at the courtesy lights, IF they don't work either, it's more likely to be the red wire in the bulkhead connector I described. If the courtesy lights still work and the fan and radio don't, it's possibly an ignition switch problem.

Bowtyeguy

Im with Frankie, bulkhead connector. He needs to figure if its fuel or electric when it shuts off. Not hard to do.

ejboyd5

Although a simultaneous failure of the blinker light may point to some greater electrical problem such as the ignition switch and its several connections, we should not overlook the possibility that the replacement coil, although new, is not working properly. There is hardly anything more frustrating in the diagnostic process than to find a new part that is faulty and unfortunately with the great influx of off-shore electrical parts this is no longer a rare occurrence.

leif.anderson93

As 65GGvert has stated, next time it dies on you go thru the exact procedure he explained. If you determine the carb is getting fuel then it becomes an electrical issue. I know you've been chasing many issues with your '65...may I ask, do you know when/if any or all of the 51 year old wiring harnesses have been replaced?? In different posts of yours that I have read, it seems like you have odd colored wires running to different electrical components. Who knows whats been cut and tied over the last 51 years. For peace of mind and ultimate reliability, consider replacing all four major wiring harnesses.

Todd H.

Bulkhead connector. I had several C2s that did this very thing.

1. disconnect battery
2. open the two bulkhead connectors on the diver's side of the firewall
3. clean corrosion off of the pin connectors
4. plug back in and reconnect battery

You should know if this is the problem when you seen the inside of the connectors. If there's corrosion you've probably found it.

easyriderknucklehead

i was recently involved in very thorough electrical work on the fuse box and cleaned all the contacts and the bulkhead you guys mentioned was at that time cleaned up with electrical spray and small wire brush I re -call (corrosion) and then I put die electric grease on and plugged it all back together. Previous to that I had not had this problem with the car stalling and it was good on a 2 hour drive. I think this is a new issue and electrical because I am getting fuel because I pump the carb and can see it when I take air cleaner off after the car stalls yesterday. Today I did what ggvert mentioned had the static-radio on and blinker and heater all the way home from alignment shop only to find they can t do it now because I need a pitman arm and idler, and the car did not stall and I couldn t say what is going on. I am going to look into the red wire on the bulkhead and trace it all the way today anyway and try get a new ballast resistor or see what pertronix says if I even need it and or by pass it like mentioned above and see what happens.

kingwoodvette

I don't know a thing about Pertronics, but can some one clear up the relationship between Pertronics 1, coil and whether or not the ballast resistor is used?

easyriderknucklehead

thanks I have not replaced the ignition switch yet, probably will be my last shot at this if all the rest does not work because hard to get here weeks

easyriderknucklehead

that is a great question if anybody knows can I just remove the little white ballast resistor and how would I do the wires that go to it . yellow and white if I re call ?? I will focus on that after I finish with the bulkhead.

KC John

I have the first gen Pertronics and it does not require the use of the ballast. If I remember correctly all I did was move the wires from one post to the other to bypass the B-resistor.

kingwoodvette

That was kinda what I was remembering and was wondering why all the talk about a bad ballast.

buns

Here are some highlights from the instructions for part numbers 1164,1165 and 1181. (Pertronix 1)

" The ignitor is compatible only with a points style coil with a minimum resistance of 1.5 ohms.
If your ignition system presently has a ballast resistor, do not remove it.
To check coil resistance, remove all wiring from it and place the test leads on the positive and negative terminals. You must have at least 1.5 ohms". ( they don't say what the maximum is ).
And, the wiring diagram:




.

buns

Forgot to add this.

From the Pertronix installation instructions:


Q. What happens if I leave the ignition switch on when the engine is not running?
A. This can cause your coil to overheat, which may cause permanent damage to the coil and the ignitor.